Cutest picture of a brain I could find.
I recently wrote about how I coped with anxiety when on an airplane trip. On the flight home, I tried another coping strategy that might be helpful for you.
I know that airplanes and fear are linked in my brain so when I am on a plane I get scared. There are lots of ways to cope with that anxiety but it occurred to me that I could actually work on reducing the anxiety itself. I decided to experiment with doing that.
When I got scared on the plane, I said to myself, “OK! Another chance to change my brain! I am totally safe right now.” Sometimes I said to myself, “Wow, even though there is turbulence right now and I am scared, I am totally safe in this plane and that is amazing.” And then I looked around and tried to take in and absorb a feeling of safety for at least 30 seconds. What I was trying to do was to start restructuring the wiring in my brain to change the automatic connection between airplanes and fear.1
I can’t say that it reduced my anxiety on that flight (nor did I expect it to work that quickly), but it did give me something to do when I was feeling anxious that I thought would help me overall. Only time will tell.
- This approach is based on Rick Hanson’s work as explained in his book Hardwiring Happiness. He makes the case that because of our brains’ neuroplasticity, it is possible for us to change what is happening in our brains to make us happier. [↩]